Gita 17.19 Slaving to get the whip that will lash us is stupidity

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 17.19 Krishna is talking about austerity in the three modes and here he talks about how it is the intention to hurt others that can make a seemingly enlightened activity an activity in the mode of ignorance when we face difficulties in our life we often like to find some quick reasons for those difficulties we try to arrive at some easy explanations and this is the basis or the origin for the human tendency for scapegoating and to get free from this tendency we need to elevate our consciousness upwards so that we learn to see the complete picture not just in terms of the other person is to be blamed but also we also played a part that was wrong and maybe if not now in the past we have done some karma because of which we got some reaction however some people not willing to take responsibility for the wrongs that they have been subjected to as a reaction to the wrongs they had committed they instead seek to do austerity which is meant to destroy their perceived offenders so they may think wealth is the key to my happiness and this person is standing in the way of my getting wealth and therefore I will do what it takes to eliminate this person so when one performs austerity to bring others down to pull them down then that austerity is said to be in the mode of ignorance we have the example classically of Vrakasura who performed austerity for the purpose of eradicating Shiva but he worshipped Shiva and Lord Shiva came in front of him he said give me a blessing by which whoever I touch that person will be destroyed and then when he got that benediction he tried to touch the head of Shiva itself in order to burn him to ashes as per the benediction given by Shiva himself so we need to avoid such a mentality where we use power not to build ourselves up but to break others down competition is a fact of life in this world and in some situations where the success can be had only by a finite number of people it is true that others will be our competitors still that doesn’t mean that we have to break them down when the focus of the competition is on destroying others then it is destructive competition when the focus of the competition is on improving ourselves then it is constructive competition however power is ultimately determined or effect of the power is determined by the way the person with the power is going to use it so austerity is a power that we all have by doing whatever austerity we can according to our capacity we can acquire greater power and when we acquire such power at that time we can very easily get entangled at the material level in a game of one-upsmanship wherein we try to prove ourselves better than others and this may be bad but even worse is where we want to destroy others so that we alone can reign supreme Krishna has talked about this mentality in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita verses 13 to 15 when he states that असो मया हतः शत्रुर्भनिष्ये चापरानपी ईश्वरो अहम अहम भोगी सद्धो अहम मल्वान सुखी he says that ईश्वरो अहम अहम भोगी I am the enjoyer, I am the controller and anybody who comes in the way असो मया हतः शत्रुर्भनिष्ये चापरानपी that this enemy I have destroyed and that enemy I will destroy by another means so this mentality to bring about destruction is itself indicative of the mode of ignorance and when austerity is used to further a destructive agenda then that austerity is deemed to be in the mode of ignorance मूधः ग्राहेन आत्मनोयम् पीड़या क्रियते तपः so the other two characteristics of people who are doing austerity of this kind is that मूधः ग्राहेन, they are foolish when do we consider a person foolish when they do something which hurts them so a person foolishly bets their whole fortune on a lottery and they lose it and they end up bankrupt on the streets similarly when we use all the power of our determination that we have in targeting someone who we feel is an obstacle to our path to success and happiness then we are taking an extremely risky lottery because even if we succeed in getting that person out of the way that does not in any way mean that we will become happy or successful there are hundreds of other factors that can and will come in our way to success that’s why rather than obsessing over something outside that is obstructing us from our success we can direct our vision inwards and try to improve ourselves so that we will be in a better position to deal with that external obstacle so this inability to see the necessity of inner transformation and instead seeing only the necessity of seeing outer destruction as necessary that is characteristic of the mode of ignorance so in ignorance we think the way to success is not through inner transformation but through outer destruction and that’s the second characteristic that such actions they torment even that particular person that person also can’t do much because they are hurting themselves in performing austerities and they are hurting themselves by hoping that through the fruit of the austerity which involves hurting someone else they will get happiness because they themselves will have to get the karmic reactions for the misdeeds that they will do by getting the power which they are seeking through the austerity so thus it is like this kind of austerity is like a person slaving very hard to get away with which they themselves will be beaten such is the tragic nature of the ignorant pursuits that the mind when misled impellers into we would try to avoid or get rid of a whip that was going to be used to lash us why would we ever go out of our way to buy and strengthen that whip but unfortunately when we fixate over external objects either as sources of our pleasure or the causes of our trouble then either getting those objects or getting rid of those objects becomes our life’s driving machine and that external fixation is itself so rather than hurting ourselves if we learn to get proper spiritual knowledge then we can use the power of austerity for helping ourselves arise out of the ignorant and distressful material world to the enlightened ecstatic state of absorption in Krishna and ultimately union with Krishna in his eternal abode that is the austerity that bhakti yoga requires and that is the austerity that provides us the highest reward. Thank you.